Amazon Further Tightens Review Rules

My reviewer friend, C, aka the happy meerkat, recently notified me of some further tweaks in Amazon’s review policy. Most of them make perfect sense, yet a couple raise concerns. The new rules can be read here in their entirety but here are the new points:

If your review is removed or rejected because it does not comply with our guidelines concerning promotional content, you may not resubmit a review on the same product, even if the resubmitted review includes different content.

Reviews may only include URLs or links to other products sold on Amazon.

Customers in the same household may not post multiple reviews of the same product.

When we find unusually high numbers of reviews for a product posted in a short period of time, we may restrict reviews of these Amazon Verified Purchase reviews.

My comments

It’s obvious that Amazon is still struggling to get rid of fraudulent reviews:

Rule #1 essentially bans offenders from tweaking their reviews in a way that will trick Amazon’s algorithms into accepting their reviews.

Rule #2 gets rid of anyone trying to promote their own shop through Amazon.

And rule #3 suggests a lot of people created bogus accounts in order to boost a product’s reviews.

Rule #4 is where things start getting weird. Essentially, Amazon seems to believe that only people peddling reviews for sale will review over 5 items per week. I guess they have metrics that support this, but it still sounds like a strange limitation. Before you start worrying about it, though, keep in mind that music and books are exempt: “This policy does not apply to Vine reviews or reviews on digital and physical books, music, and video.”

As for rule #5, it makes little sense to me. Most of us have ARC teams – people we send our books to, in order to launch our book with a bang. Presumably, they will post their reviews around the time of the official launch. Will Amazon arbitrarily limit the number of reviews? As C points out, the question is how many is too many? After all, Amazon created pre-orders for the sole purpose of promoting authors.

C gives the example of a best-selling coloring book that had plenty of new reviews every hour. Will books be exempt from this rule as well. So far, it appears that no: C cites one writer she has spoken to, who said they had all their release-day reviews deleted. They suspect this new rule was to blame. However, Amazon constantly tweaks review rules as they strive to balance the need for honest reviews and author needs, so they may quietly or explicitly exempt books, they way they have done in the past.

As for what counts as a verified purchase, buying a kindle copy and reviewing the paperback still counts as a non-verified purchase review and vice versa.

Amazon US vs. Amazon UK

I always assumed that review rules were universal. Turns out this is not the case. For example, Amazon UK does not ban ‘review washing‘ the way Amazon US does. In case you’re wondering, ‘review washing’ refers to the practice where, if a review gets lots of negative votes, reviewers simply ‘wash’ their review by deleting it and reposting. This makes it appear on the front page so, even if visitors don’t like their review, it will always be on the front page of a book/product.

And the UK rules now state explicitly that:

Book authors and publishers may continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempts to influence the review.

Update: A Vine Reviewer Explains Amazon’s Point Of View

Vine reviewer Beetley Pete has kindly provided us with Amazon’s point of view. As he raises a number of excellent points, I decided to share here:

“As a Vine reviewer, I was notified of all these changes from Amazon by email. Although their domination of the market in retail may be of some concern, it is worth considering the other side of the ‘review coin’.

Many sellers (whatever the goods) have only themselves to blame. I am inundated with offers to accept free (or heavily discounted) products from companies who get my details from my reviewer profile. They are mostly from China, but also include some authors/publishing houses. If I took up even one-third of these offers, I would be reviewing close to seventy products a week. Multiply that by the number of reviewers contacted, (at least the top 5,000) and you start to see the size of the problem.

Numerous positive reviews of free goods, whether LED bulbs or an excellent new novel, do not constitute a fair deal for a buyer who is guided by them to spend their own money. Distributing dozens of free books to family, friends, and colleagues is a sure way to see many five-star reviews appear in a very short space of time. They want to help, they are part of your circle, and of course want you to do well. But is it fair to the buyer? Not really.

This works the other way too. Many companies employ specialists to write ‘dark’ reviews, constantly attacking competitor’s products or books under different identities, to try to stop them selling, or being successful. The new rules also stop this happening so frequently, which can be seen as beneficial and balancing the ‘freebie’ reviews.

As for ‘washing’ and deleting reviews, this can also be useful. I frequently update reviews of products. For example, if after testing something for some time, it stops working. I might go back to a previous five-star review and drop it down to two stars, adding that it should have lasted longer, or have been cheaper. This rarely applies to books. Once read and reviewed, opinions about these rarely change. I would only delete a review if it constantly received negative ‘clicks’, or many spiteful comments. This would indicate involvement by the seller/author, or agents of the same. I can then write a new review, stating that I believe this to be happening, and in my opinion, other reviewers should also delete their reviews. No publicity is the worst kind, after all.

Lastly, you have to consider that many top reviewers are jealous of their ranking. This causes many of them to constantly add negative clicks or comments to the reviews of ‘up and coming’ popular reviewers, hoping to downgrade their status and keep their own places near the top. Sad, but true.”

42 Comments

Catherine Mackay
on December 3, 2016 at 10:07

Really interesting post – I didn’t know ‘washing’ was a thing – it sounds a little dodgy. I have suspected, based on some reviews I’ve read, that some reviewers are being deliberately mean-spirited. One of my favourite sci-fi authors writes very entertaining books that I rather like because they are well-plotted and easy reads that you can unwind to after a hectic week. However, I noticed one top-reviewer kept pinging this author with negative remarks on how uninspiring his books were. This reviewer would began by making the exact same remarks as he had on his previous reviews of this author’s books. He would then ramble on about how awful and samey it was to the author’s other books. What got me was, if this reviewer didn’t like the author’s books, why on earth would he keep buying them? It makes no sense to me. I have noticed that some reviews are, what I consider, border-line abusive. Seriously, would it hurt for reviewers to say at least something nice? There are days when I think that ‘unhelpful’ button should just disappear – reviews are inherently personal afterall. Even if you don’t particularly like what the reviewer has said, it is still expressing their opinion. The only reviews that should go are the ones that are outright unpleasant – putting an author down, is not cool and I have seen reviews that do precisely that.
Great post, Nicholas and thanks ever so much for my free copy of the next Pearseus book (I am now a happy camper and will be curling up this weekend reading it) 🙂

I’ve seen horrible reviews like that. Both on books and products. It’s possible to do something about it by contacting Amazon but I’ve heard horrible stories recently about how Amazon treated one friend who’s an author. She inquired about a bad review only to have amazon tell her she’s related to several people who’ve reviewed her book (which isn’t true) and then they deleted those legitimate reviews, several and still left the weird negative one….beware an Amazon employee whos having a bad day!!!

She’s been a bit wary of amazon since. She’s so worried I think she’s taking her books off from unlimited so she can offer them on other sites, perhaps worried that amazon might one day just ban her :(. All she apparently did was inquire about a strange 1 star review. I’m not a fan of amazon at the moment. they’ve deleted lots of reviews from all the top reviewers (incentivized reviews for products, which were allowed but for some reason amazon decided to delete old reviews) I’ve lost over 60 of them. I feel sorry for some sellers. Not the big companies but I’ve spoken to some startup people who are selling newly developed products, like an indie author, they sent me an item and now that review is gone. Not all the sellers on amazon are bad, the large (mostly Chinese)ones ruin it for the others. :/

You’re absolutely right that abusive reviews should just disappear. Turns out, however, that it’s far easier for a nasty reviewer to get his reviews upvoted that for a kind one. Also, like you say, some reviewers simply have it out for certain authors. I once made the mistake of picking a fight on LinkedIn with an author who believed no Indie work is worthwhile. Next thing I knew, she had entered the same silly 1* review on my work on *every single Amazon marketplace in the world* – from Japan to Canada to India! Sigh…

I believe a review is only as intelligent as is the reviewer that left it. I also believe reviews should never ever be left anonymously as it gives power to cyber bullies or those on their own kind of crusade. Since we are stuck with the powers to be that are running the pageant right now, I would think the simplest way to fix the review system is too remove all comments and just use the stars. Let the authors make their own pitches on social media channels.

Lol – what a great way to put it – “a review is only as intelligent as the reviewer” 😀

Regardless of how the system is gamed, I like the freedom a blank text field gives me, when reviewing. However, it seems that Amazon agrees with you–notice the new way of reviewing, with specific fields like PoV etc. Looks like the whole process is getting more streamlined.

Thanks for the info. Garnering reviews continues to be a challenge, but so far the rules don’t seem to be impacting the reviews I receive or give. Pete’s comment was interesting. I didn’t realize there are so many trolls and saboteurs out there, and that sometimes reviewers are simply trying to downgrade each other. I hope this is rare with books.

Thank you for sharing this :). I appreciate the vine reviewer’s comments too, though as a non-vine top reviewer I was only sent an email yesterday stating that there’s a limit on 5 non-verified purchase reviews a week…no other info was sent to me.

I can understand the other side of the coin. There’s a lot of corruption in amazon and theses ‘big’ sellers and those working with ‘dark’ motives need to be stopped, however many times when amazon and corruption is mentioned people forget about small businesses too. Not all the sellers were sending out hundreds of requests. The publisher’s I’ve been approached by have received mixed reviews on books because they chose certain reviewers who give out honest rather than automatic reviews. Crucially though, despite all the dark stuff that happens, I believe it should be tackled a different way. I would never actively delete a review and re-post, even if it was the target of negative clicks and comments. Indeed I’ve had some negative comments on my reviews and in the past some top reviewers have negatively voted down my reviews to the point where I have more unhelpful than helpful votes (and this is on popular items). These reviews still sit on my profile today, they give me a lower ranking and lower ‘helpfulness’ percentage on amazon but I will amend my review or post a comment on it stating what’s happening. I don’t personally feel comfortable with ‘washing’ them. What many top reviewers who actively wash reviews (and I’m talking about the bad ones who also vote others down in the past) have stated that it’s because of negative ‘troll’ votes that they wash. What many of them don’t realise is that maybe…just maybe their reviews were genuinely unhelpful to a real customer! The fact that amazon US has banned the practice does say something about the overall feel of ‘washing’.

I just wonder why all the amazon’s have different rules. And why were the new rules brought in without telling the majority of people?

Would it be okay to link back to this post. I feel like writing another blog post myself 🙂

Thank you and you’re very welcome :). I just noticed you have a double blog! I’ve been reading your .me site but somehow I ended up on a .WordPress.com site yesterday where there were different replies to your post :o! A secret second blog? Lol

If you notice, at the end of each of my .me posts, there is a link to the wp.com one. I use it so that people who can’t reblog from my .me one can do so from the wp.com one. Also, because that way my posts are shared on people’s wp readers 🙂

Ah, well it was news to me. Thank you for explaining. I only ever followed your .me site but the posts stopped appearing in my reader, I’ll see if I can follow the other site to make them appear again :).

See people already mentioned the book exemption. Considering Amazon depends heavily on computer programs, I don’t see how this will always be the case. I do think they’ll exempt big name authors in regards to the 5th rule. Imagine Rowling getting banned because of a 500 mostly positive review day. Never happen. Again, my worry stems from their use of programs in place of humans. One slip up on that thing and you’re toast.

Yeah. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about getting canned responses when they bring up an issue. Machines can’t stray from the rules, but humans can suffer from apathy if you get them on the wrong day.

As a Vine reviewer, I was notified of all these changes from Amazon by email. Although their domination of the market in retail may be of some concern, it is worth considering the other side of the ‘review coin’.

Many sellers (whatever the goods) have only themselves to blame. I am inundated with offers to accept free (or heavily discounted) products from companies who get my details from my reviewer profile. They are mostly from China, but also include some authors/publishing houses. If I took up even one third of these offers, I would be reviewing close to seventy products a week. Multiply that by the number of reviewers contacted, (at least the top 5,000) and you start to see the size of the problem.

Numerous positive reviews of free goods, whether LED bulbs or an excellent new novel, do not constitute a fair deal for a buyer who is guided by them to spend their own money. Distributing dozens of free books to family, friends, and colleagues is a sure way to see many five-star reviews appear in a very short space of time. They want to help, they are part of your circle, and of course want you to do well. But is it fair to the buyer? Not really. This works the other way too. Many companies employ specialists to write ‘dark’ reviews, constantly attacking competitor’s products or books under different identities, to try to stop them selling, or being successful. The new rules also stop this happening so frequently, which can be seen as beneficial, and balancing the ‘freebie’ reviews.

As for ‘washing’ and deleting reviews, this can also be useful. I frequently update reviews of products. For example, if after testing something for some time, it stops working. I might go back to a previous five-star review and drop it down to two stars, adding that it should have lasted longer, or have been cheaper. This rarely applies to books. Once read and reviewed, opinions about these rarely change. I would only delete a review if it constantly received negative ‘clicks’, or many spiteful comments. This would indicate involvement by the seller/author, or agents of the same. I can then write a new review, stating that I believe this to be happening, and in my opinion, other reviewers should also delete their reviews. No publicity is the worst kind, after all.

Lastly, you have to consider that many top reviewers are jealous of their ranking. This causes many of them to constantly add negative clicks or comments to the reviews of ‘up and coming’ popular reviewers, hoping to downgrade their status, and keep their own places near the top. Sad, but true.

Sorry for such a long comment, Nicholas, but I think it is worth your readers being aware of the ‘other side’.
Best wishes as always, Pete.

I noticed same thing as Liz regarding how reviews are displayed. From what I could tell, it seems to only default to Verified Purchase when there are numerous reviews (don’t know how many). If you look at a book that only has 5 or 6, you get them all.

Hey, Nicholas. Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been monitoring Amazon reviews closely since your first post about the new rules. Although they say they’ve exempted books, they did create a default ‘See verified purchase’ feature. I mean, when one clicks on the review page, it automatically shows only verified purchase. You need to click a button and change the setting to view “all reviewers”. Curiously, it is my understanding that default setting seems to be on and off. I haven’t figured out why, though; but, some days I see all reviews and other days I see only verified purchase ones.
Has anyone else noticed it?

“Review washing” sounds like something out of an author’s nightmare if I am understanding it right. Does that mean anyone and that includes religious stalkers for the erotica writers could write anything they wanted about the book or the author and keep it right at the top no matter how many other good reviews the book has? Especially when you consider that most are not using their real name.